Juvenile Transfers to Adult Court

Write a 750-1000 word paper in APA style which explores the following questions:

• Research a case where a juvenile was transferred to adult court. What kind of waiver was used?
• Summarize the details of the case. Do you agree with the decision to transfer a juvenile to adult court? Why or why not?

In your paper, include a title sheet and 3-4 cited references to support your ideas. Only one reference may be found on the internet. The other references must be found in the Grantham University online library.

Only the body of the paper will count toward the word requirement and the references must be cited, both in the body of your essay and in a references page.

(1) Explain the steps in the juvenile justice process.

The objective of juvenile justice is to deal with juveniles who come into contact with law enforcement and are charged with breaching the law. Juvenile courts examine those matters as part of a legal process to evaluate if the child broke the law and, if so, what should be done about it. The rehabilitation programs, services, and consequences are given to assist young people quit delinquent behaviors are managed by state and municipal juvenile correctional organizations including probation and residential detention. (a) Delinquent behavior, (b) referral, (c) intake or diversion, (d) transfer or waiver, (e) detention, (f) adjudication, (g) disposition, (h) juvenile corrections, and (i) aftercare are all phases of the juvenile justice system.

 

First and foremost, it is developmentally typical for the youth of all races and ethnicities to engage in minor delinquent behaviors. These behaviors take place in every area, but the ramifications differ. Delinquency may go unnoticed by law enforcement in areas and schools where there is a low police presence. It might also be promptly dismissed, notably when a law enforcement officer breaks up an event without issuing any arrests, or when a schoolteacher deals with disorderly behavior or in-school fighting without contacting the legal system. Children are more prone to have their offending criminalized in communities and schools where there is a higher police presence. The referral becomes the next step. An arrest or referral brings a young person into the juvenile justice system. Whilst a great number of referrals originate from the authorities, teachers, parents, claimed crime victims, and other community members can also refer juveniles.

 

Intake or diversion is the third phase. After an adolescent is referred, intake officials at the juvenile court or probation service, as well as lawyers from the prosecutor’s office, decide whether the matter must be processed officially in juvenile court, managed informally, or dropped. Then there’s the process of transferring or waiving. Children accused of particularly serious offenses may also be moved or waived out of juvenile court to face prosecution as adults in criminal court at the intake phase. In certain areas, a prosecutor can request a transfer, however, in most states, the relocation decision is made by a juvenile court judge in answer to a prosecutor’s or intake worker’s request for transfer. Many states have statutes that automatically transfer juveniles accused of certain offenses to adult court, while some of these jurisdictions also have provisions that allow judges to return youth to juvenile court in particular situations.

 

Then the detention stage follows.  The next step in cases legally conducted in juvenile court is either to keep the vulnerable child until his or her adjudication hearing or instead allow the child to stay at home throughout the pre-adjudication phase. Judges in most jurisdictions only impose pretrial custody when a youth is judged a danger to the public or a flight risk. A detention hearing is usually scheduled within 24 hours following an arrest or other referral. Adjudication is the next step. The child may be declared delinquent during this phase, which is essentially akin to being proven guilty in criminal court. Alternatively, the child might be judged not guilty or the charges could be dropped. In juvenile court, like in adult court, a great percent of cases are not challenged in court. Rather, they are settled through plea bargaining, in which the child admits to a lower charge, or through consent decrees or other related agreements that allow the child to avoid prosecution if he or she complies with certain conditions, that in most instances encompass a time frame of informal probation guidance. A juvenile court judge judges on the evidence provided in court by prosecutors and defense counsel if the case is challenged and an adjudication hearing is held. In juvenile court, there have been no jury trials.

 

The following stage after a juvenile has been judged delinquent is a dispositional hearing, which is similar to a sentencing hearing in adult criminal court. A probation official often studies the case, evaluates the child, and produces a proposed intervention approach ahead of this hearing. A judge evaluates the plan throughout the hearing, hears more testimony from the prosecutors, defense counsel, and maybe the child and his or her family, and then decides on the case’s outcome. Juvenile corrections, which includes probation and residential confinement, is the next step. More than 90 percent of delinquent kids are condemned to public supervision, sometimes known as probation, or to residential placement. Last but not least, there’s the aftercare phase. After being adjudicated, adolescents may be withdrawn from their homes and imprisoned in a penal institution or perhaps another residential facility. The last step of the procedure may include a phase of aftercare, during which the child is watched and assisted as they return to society.

 

 

(2) Compare this process with that of the adult court system.

Although community safety is a common aim, the juvenile justice system doesn’t regard punishment as a valid goal, unlike the adult court system. Its claimed purpose, instead, is to assist juveniles in avoiding future misbehavior and maturing into law-abiding individuals. To that purpose, the juvenile justice system has generally preserved the privacy of juveniles engaged in court proceedings. When an adult is arrested or taken out of the public eye for executing a criminal act, he is transported to county prison. The first distinction between the juvenile and adult systems emerges at this point. The court system employs different phrases to characterize the stages of the criminal process when it includes a juvenile in an attempt to decriminalize their crimes. In the juvenile judicial system, for instance, the word arrest is not employed. Instead, a child is taken into custody. These are two distinct words for the same thing.

 

Bond is established for an adult offender who has been arrested or charged with a crime. A bond is a monetary or non-monetary sum set by a judge to assure a defendant’s attendance at court sessions. The defendant’s appearance on bond assures that he or she will appear for future hearings and trials. This is where the second distinction is made. A minor does not have the right to form a relationship with another person. In fact, without bail, a child might be detained in jail throughout the whole court procedure. Unless a juvenile’s case is severe enough to be moved to the adult system then he has a right to bail. A third distinction is a right to a jury trial. Adults have the right under the law to choose the jury that will hear their case if it gets to trial. In most jurisdictions, nevertheless, unless he is facing a bind-over, a child does not have the right to trial by jury. A bind-over is a hearing to decide whether the juvenile must be prosecuted as an adult rather than a child in court. Bind-overs are typically used in high-profile instances, such as murders. As a result, the majority of juvenile cases are heard by a judge. This is referred to as a bench trial. An adult would either be declared guilty or not guilty of an infraction at the culmination of a trial. The terms adjudicated and not adjudicated are used in the juvenile justice system.

 

When a person is tried as a juvenile, the court system might be very different from when they are tried as an adult. Both of these criminal justice systems are capable of imposing harsh sentences, but there are significant differences between them. Because of these distinctions, whether a person has the option of being tried as a juvenile or an adult, it may be in their best interests to be tried as a juvenile. Whether for adults or adolescents, the criminal justice system can leave a person serving lengthy prison sentences. These sentences might involve a range of punishments, the most common of which is incarceration and monetary fines. However, the following distinctions among these two systems may be very noticeable. Trials by jury are used in adult courts. Judge-led trials are used in juvenile courts. Adult courts have the potential for even harsher punishments. Juvenile courts impose harsh punishments, but they do not entail adult jail sentences. Juvenile records can be sealed, whereas adult records may be harder to delete later. These distinctions might have a substantial impact on how a person constructs their legal defense.

 

Finally, an adult is punished if he is proven guilty following a verdict. This is where the offender learns the severity of his crime. This is not the case with the juvenile justice system. In the juvenile justice system, a case is adjudicated, and the goal is to find a decent way to restore a child who has been adjudged guilty of the crime.